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Monday, August 06, 2018 5:42:45 AM
Did Trump Just Admit to an Impeachable Offense?
"‘Brett was involved’: Inside Supreme Court nominee's work for Bill Clinton probe "
Prosecutor Brett Kavanaugh says yes. Judge Brett Kavanaugh says no.
By David R. Lurie
Aug 05, 20189:28 PM
Judge Brett Kavanaugh listens to Sen. Rob Portman talk about Kavanaugh’s qualifications before a meeting
in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill July 11, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
On Sunday, Donald Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow admitted that his client, President Donald Trump, ghostwrote, and instructed his son Donald Trump Jr. to issue, a false statement to the press about an active criminal investigation. Then, after the falsity of Trump Jr.’s statement was uncovered, the president seemingly lied to Sekulow, telling his lawyer that he had played no role in drafting it, and thereby induced Sekulow to repeat that falsehood to the nation. While Sekulow argues that there was nothing illegal about the president’s conduct here, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has argued the opposite. According to Kavanaugh and his fellow authors of the Starr Report, actions like Trump’s could be criminal, and furthermore may constitute an impeachable offense.
[...]
The plain implication was that Trump lied to his own attorney about his role in drafting the false statement, and then sent Sekulow out to serve as his dupe by unknowingly repeating Trump’s lie to the nation.
Sekulow, though, contended (both on Sunday and to Special Counsel Robert Mueller) that Trump’s serial mendacity cannot give rise to liability. This is because, according to Sekulow, causing a witness to lie to the public or the press (or doing so yourself) is not illegal.
In 1998, when he was a member of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s prosecution team, Brett Kavanaugh came to the opposite conclusion. Kavanaugh drafted the section of the Starr Report that set out the legal theories supporting the independent counsel’s claim that Bill Clinton had committed offenses that could merit impeachment. Central to that argument was a claim that Clinton had obstructed justice by attempting to encourage a witness to lie, as well as by lying to the nation himself.
[...]
The Starr Report’s obstruction theory, however, is far more compelling when applied to President Trump’s role in the Trump Jr. statement. As Sekulow now admits, the president not only sought to influence Trump Jr.’s account of the Trump Tower meeting, he went so far as to draft a completely false statement and cause Trump Jr. to release it to the press. Additionally, Trump induced his son to lie in the midst of a grand jury investigation in which the president knew his son was likely to be called to testify. Therefore, the statement appears to be an attempt by the president to lock Trump Jr. into a false statement that would ultimately be repeated to a grand jury. Furthermore, in the years since the Starr Report was authored, Congress has enhanced the reach of the federal obstruction of justice offense to expressly impose criminal liability on a person who “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so.”
[...]
There is one caveat to the foregoing analysis. Over the last few decades, Kavanaugh’s views have changed. As recounted in a New York Times article, Kavanaugh, who became a federal judge in 2006, has expressed regrets about the investigation into President Clinton. Furthermore, Kavanaugh has argued that Congress should pass a law expressly prohibiting a president from being compelled to testify, and even from being investigated for, criminal activities, and his writings and statements leave open the possibility that he might favor imposing such a bar through a judicial decision should be join the Supreme Court.
Therefore, if Judge Kavanaugh has his way, Robert Mueller would not be able to investigate President Trump, let alone present a case for his potential impeachment for review by Congress. There is also reason to believe that a number of other members of the current Supreme Court might be attracted to such a position. Accordingly, if Judge Kavanaugh joins the Supreme Court, he might well prevent his own prosecutorial theories from being applied to the president who nominated him.
With links - https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/08/donald-trump-brett-kavanaugh-what-the-starr-report-says-about-whether-the-president-committed-an-impeachable-offense.html
"‘Brett was involved’: Inside Supreme Court nominee's work for Bill Clinton probe "
Prosecutor Brett Kavanaugh says yes. Judge Brett Kavanaugh says no.
By David R. Lurie
Aug 05, 20189:28 PM
Judge Brett Kavanaugh listens to Sen. Rob Portman talk about Kavanaugh’s qualifications before a meeting
in the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill July 11, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
On Sunday, Donald Trump’s lawyer Jay Sekulow admitted that his client, President Donald Trump, ghostwrote, and instructed his son Donald Trump Jr. to issue, a false statement to the press about an active criminal investigation. Then, after the falsity of Trump Jr.’s statement was uncovered, the president seemingly lied to Sekulow, telling his lawyer that he had played no role in drafting it, and thereby induced Sekulow to repeat that falsehood to the nation. While Sekulow argues that there was nothing illegal about the president’s conduct here, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has argued the opposite. According to Kavanaugh and his fellow authors of the Starr Report, actions like Trump’s could be criminal, and furthermore may constitute an impeachable offense.
[...]
The plain implication was that Trump lied to his own attorney about his role in drafting the false statement, and then sent Sekulow out to serve as his dupe by unknowingly repeating Trump’s lie to the nation.
Sekulow, though, contended (both on Sunday and to Special Counsel Robert Mueller) that Trump’s serial mendacity cannot give rise to liability. This is because, according to Sekulow, causing a witness to lie to the public or the press (or doing so yourself) is not illegal.
In 1998, when he was a member of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s prosecution team, Brett Kavanaugh came to the opposite conclusion. Kavanaugh drafted the section of the Starr Report that set out the legal theories supporting the independent counsel’s claim that Bill Clinton had committed offenses that could merit impeachment. Central to that argument was a claim that Clinton had obstructed justice by attempting to encourage a witness to lie, as well as by lying to the nation himself.
[...]
The Starr Report’s obstruction theory, however, is far more compelling when applied to President Trump’s role in the Trump Jr. statement. As Sekulow now admits, the president not only sought to influence Trump Jr.’s account of the Trump Tower meeting, he went so far as to draft a completely false statement and cause Trump Jr. to release it to the press. Additionally, Trump induced his son to lie in the midst of a grand jury investigation in which the president knew his son was likely to be called to testify. Therefore, the statement appears to be an attempt by the president to lock Trump Jr. into a false statement that would ultimately be repeated to a grand jury. Furthermore, in the years since the Starr Report was authored, Congress has enhanced the reach of the federal obstruction of justice offense to expressly impose criminal liability on a person who “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so.”
[...]
There is one caveat to the foregoing analysis. Over the last few decades, Kavanaugh’s views have changed. As recounted in a New York Times article, Kavanaugh, who became a federal judge in 2006, has expressed regrets about the investigation into President Clinton. Furthermore, Kavanaugh has argued that Congress should pass a law expressly prohibiting a president from being compelled to testify, and even from being investigated for, criminal activities, and his writings and statements leave open the possibility that he might favor imposing such a bar through a judicial decision should be join the Supreme Court.
Therefore, if Judge Kavanaugh has his way, Robert Mueller would not be able to investigate President Trump, let alone present a case for his potential impeachment for review by Congress. There is also reason to believe that a number of other members of the current Supreme Court might be attracted to such a position. Accordingly, if Judge Kavanaugh joins the Supreme Court, he might well prevent his own prosecutorial theories from being applied to the president who nominated him.
With links - https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/08/donald-trump-brett-kavanaugh-what-the-starr-report-says-about-whether-the-president-committed-an-impeachable-offense.html
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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